Baculifera is a genus of lichens in the family Caliciaceae. It was circumscribed in 2000 by Bernhard Marbach and Klaus Kalb. Species in this genus are characterized by having bacilliform conidia typically measuring 8âÂÂ11 üm long, and a non- hymenium. The genus is roughly similar in morphology to Buellia.
The thallus is crustose: it forms a thin, crust that can be smooth and continuous or break into patches, and in some species it lies mostly within the bark (). It lacks a distinct outer (), and a faint marginal may be present. The is a unicellular green alga with roughly spherical cells about 8âÂÂ18 üm across.
Sexual reproductive structures are apothecia that are (with only a , not a one) and . The is black and flat, wavy, or slightly convex, without a whitish frosting (). The is persistent, the same colour as the disc, and cup-shaped in section, appearing opaque dark brown. The hymenium is clear and not filled with oil droplets (hyaline, not ) and carries a dark, pigmented epithecial layer. Paraphyses are or only sparsely branched and tend to stick together in a KOH test; their tips bear a distinct, internally pigmented cap. The asci are club-shaped and usually contain 3âÂÂ8 spores. Their apical cap () is well developed and amyloid (staining blue with iodine), sometimes with a slightly more intensely amyloid band beside a broad or narrow conical central plug (a masse axiale) whose rounded apex usually extends through the tholus.
The ascospores are brown to grey-brown, ellipsoid, sometimes slightly curved, and divided by 1âÂÂ3 cross-walls. They lack a clear outer , and occur in two main forms: a Buellia-type with fairly even walls and little thickening, and a Callispora-type with slight to strong wall thickenings near the ends and the middle. Asexual reproduction occurs in immersed pycnidia that produce short, rod-shaped conidia (). In chemical tests, many species contain atranorin and/or norstictic acid, while others have no detectable secondary metabolites.